Agassiz power outage shines light on dependency

When the power off on Monday, Dec. 2, I realized how dependent we all are on technologies like electricity.

Without electricity, the lifestyles we have would not be possible. Our everyday lives would not be possible without technologies like electricity and the electric light bulb.

What did people do before Thomas Edison invented the electric light bulb almost 140 years ago. Before electricity, people went to bed early and arose at dawn. They could only read at night with coal oil lamps or candles.

In 1935, Agassiz had an ice storm that shut down the power for six weeks in the village. In those days, everyone heated their homes on wood and coal furnaces and cooked on wood and coal stoves. Clearly, we should not take our electricity for granted.

When the power went off Monday, I was cooking supper. Luckily, I had candles for light, until the power went on an hour later. My only inconvenience was to eat supper one hour later.

We should all thank the brave and hardy linemen who repaired the lines in fierce winds and freezing temperatures.